Question about forcing a patina

[southernfryedyankee]

What is the best way to get a patina uniform with no pattern? I plan on stripping and sanding my blade to a near mirror polish and would like a nice gray to black uniform finish.

 

[hunter s thompson]

Here is a link to a method that works great on 1095. For my own patinas I just peel and eat a couple of bags of apples and you are good to go, LINK

 

[eloreno]

you can get an even patina by simply putting the knife in white vinegar. just dunk it right in there. bubbles will form on the blade, just take it out of the vinegar every 5 minutes then put it back in. the longer you leave it, the darker it will get.

 

[calvinw]

Here's a post on an even, black patina:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/928315-Get-A-Deep-Even-Black-Patina-On-1095-Carbon-Steel

I've been meaning to try it myself, but the wife and baby probably don't want the house stinking of vinegar.

 

[presz]

Gun bluing works well just make sure the blade is very clean.
PCB Etchant Solution also yields a dark even color, with proper per-cleaning. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102868

 

[jvarn81]

you can get an even patina by simply putting the knife in white vinegar. just dunk it right in there. bubbles will form on the blade, just take it out of the vinegar every 5 minutes then put it back in. the longer you leave it, the darker it will get.

This is the answer....vinegar makes it an even gray.

 

[kreole]

What steel are you trying to do it to? Vinegar is nice because it's easy, but it won't work well on all steels--cpm m4 for instance. In those cases, pcb etchant like presz suggests is the way to go. Here is a Gayle Bradley blade done with the latter (the color is uniform, but the blade was dirty when I took the picture)

The other benefits of PCB etchant are it's faster and works on stainless.

 

[DD1]

Here is a video showing one of my patinas

[video=youtube_share;0NJwyZBbDAQ]http://youtu.be/0NJwyZBbDAQ[/video]